Category: Sackville’s Memorial park

Today’s post is a a follow-up to the beautiful Italian song, called “Aballati Aballati’ , featured in one of Bambi’s earlier posts (as shown further below).

Indeed, Bambi would like to first tease her childhood friend Selim who reached out to her complaining about how he could not stop singing this joyful song all day after reading (or listening to) her post. Well, Selim, perhaps Ms. Hiba Tawaji’s adaptation of “Smile” will make you forget about Mr. Amine Hachem’s earlier song :). If it doesn’t, at least it would perhaps succeed in putting a smile on your face :). Seriously now, Bambi misses you and your family. Please be safe and merry.

Second, why don’t we stop to reflect on smiles?

Is there anything more moving in the world than the first newborn’s “real” smile (after earlier “reflex” smiles)? This is when the whole cute face lights up, melting mom’s and dad’s hearts (and everyone’s heart)!

Is there anything nicer in a day than a friendly (genuine) smile?

And what about our smiles back?

Smiles communicate with each other. No need for words to quickly interpret them.

Of course, we smile more when we are happy.

We can also make ourselves (and others) happier by smiling more.

The beauty of a smile is that we can still choose to smile even when we are grieving a loved one or our hearts are filled with sorrow.

A smile is free of charge. It is easily accessible to all those who want to remember how to be and remain fully human.

Re-smiling is sometimes all what we have left when everything else seems ephemeral.

In Arabic, there is a beautiful saying that goes like that: “Ibtassem tabtassem laka el Dounya“. It literally means: “Smile and life will smile back at you“.

Yes, a smile is a reflection of a mental state. It is an attitude. It is window to the spirit, not just the mind. It is a way of living.

So, why don’t we just become a lasting smile to both others and ourselves?

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Cheerful moments with the talented Mr. Amine Hachem, singing “Aballati, Aballati”, a traditional song from Sicily!

https://www.hamilton.ca/government-information/news-centre/news-releases/hamiltons-covid-19-vaccination-program-prioritizes

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/covid-outbreak-icu-bipoc-vaccine-1.6001503

Even Lebanon, which survived a 15-year-long sectarian (+ other) civil war from 1975 to 1990, did not resort to what the City of Hamilton is doing now.

Imagine the Covid-19 vaccines there being prioritized by sectarian groups, such as Shia Muslims, Sunnis, Christians, or whatever else in a Lebanese neighbourhood or village, but not provided to other groups (or vice versa)? Citizens would revolt against such form of apparent “racism” (or “sectarianism”), even if it is presented to them as an “anti-sectarian” public health strategy.

Mind you, there is a word for sectarianism in Arabic, “Al Taifia”, which means loyalty to one’s sect. Thankfully, sectarianism is now rejected by the majority, if not all the people of Lebanon, because it is not only unfair but also a slippery slope with potential tragic outcomes for ALL (i.e., tainted with blood).

To come back to our more peaceful Ontario, which is battling a harsh pandemic-related crisis, why is Hamilton asking its citizens to self-identify as BIPOC to receive the Covid-19 vaccine? Again, BIPOC is the trendy acronym that Bambi is supposed to fit in as a deer of colour ?; BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour)?  

Why didn’t Hamilton target socio-demographic or medical factors underlying any observed BIPOC health-related data instead (e.g., age, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, other select comorbid health problems, crowded living conditions, or social factors, etc.)?

To conclude this post, does this apparently Apartheid-style vaccination make any sense to you? Anyhow, it does not to Bambi, even if she had been a Hamilton “BIPOC” deer residing “in postal codes L9C, L8W, L8L, L8N and L9K”?

This “Doudou” is Bambi’s brother without being her sibling since age 9.

This “Doudou” is married to Bambi’s sister… and no he is not her brother neither (thank God!).

This “Doudou” is a wonderful spouse, dad, and brother-in-law.

Everyone loves “Doudou”. Not just Bambi and her spouse too.

Happy Birthday to him!

Bambi already celebrated Easter (with the majority…) but today she wants to send her love to her parents as it is their Greek Orthodox Palm Sunday, along with a prayer she loves dearly.

Bambi’s parents are the most open-minded people she has ever met in her life. Spiritually rooted in their faith yet open to the world, namely to all faiths, non-faith, or whatever else. They even easily forgive those with close-minded ideologies, even when the latter want to kill loved ones. For them and for Bambi, what matters the most in life is: RESPECT (self- and respect for others). Respect is the best antidote to injustice, discrimination, civil conflicts, racism, etc.

Anyhow, to conclude this post, Bambi is happy you survived the pandemic (fully vaccinated for a while) and your Beirut port surrealistic explosion that destroyed your apartment and store… to be able to live this significant week filled with beautiful Byzantine chants. Enjoy :)!

Those who know Bambi since childhood recall that her nickname is “Bambine“. Yes, she is an Armenian deer deep in her heart, today/tomorrow more than ever.

Remembrance is a duty, not just to honour the 1 million victims (may their memory be eternal), but to learn from history in order to say and truly mean: Another genocide in our world… never again!

To conclude this post, here are three songs that Bambi would like to offer to all her friends of Armenian heritage, if she may. The first one is by Mr. Ghassan Rahbani (in both Arabic and Armenian). It is about the Armenian genocide that took place from about April 24 (1915) to 1917. The second is by the late Mr. Charles Aznavour (a French song performed by Ms. Nana Mouskouri, along with French artists, to raise funds after the devastating Armenian earthquake of 1988). Finally, the last song is by Mr. Patrick Fiori whose father is French-Armenian (in French).

This

Bambi posted in the past about Saudi Arabia’s membership in the UN’s Human Rights Council (another similar joke ?, except that it is not funny :(!).

Today, it is the turn of Iran to secure “membership” in the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). If this is a joke, it surely has a bad taste.

These “elections” within the UN tell us something about who controls such international organizations. It tells us also about all the political and business shenanigans in our world.

Does anyone genuinely care for women’s rights abroad?   

To conclude this post, today is a sad day for women all over the world, not just in Iran… This day is an insult to the intelligence of Iran’s women (and all their fellow citizens).  

Dr. Gad Saad, from Concordia University (Montreal, Québec), was about to become a target of cancel culture (ie., an attempt to silence him). The Jewish Public Library showed courage when facing the mob. His talk will take place at the end of this month, as scheduled. Bravo.

No one should be silenced in a free society, including Dr. Saad, whether we agree with his ideas or not. Instead, what would be more enriching in life is to debate and exchange ideas. Plus, if someone does not want to listen or debate, an easy solution would be to simply avoid reading his book or attending his talk, etc.

To conclude this post, at 5.36 minutes from the start, Dr. Saad’s wise words resonated with Bambi: “With every loss, every cancelled deplatforming that is instantiated, a small piece of our freedom dies”. Indeed, when freedom dies, the end result can be very ugly, as both Dr. Saad and Bambi happen to know very well…

Québec will appeal the judgement of Judge Marc-André Blanchard from the Supreme Court, thankfully.

TVA Nouvelle French article:

https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/04/20/loi-21–quebec-va-faire-appel-du-jugement-1

A quick translation, thanks to Google Translate:

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/04/20/loi-21–quebec-va-faire-appel-du-jugement-1

Does it make sense to divide Québec into two categories of citizens, francophones (majority) versus anglophones (minority)?

Does it make sense to weaken Québec like that and to attack its culture and cultural choices?

Today it is this societal choice (as a reminder, Bill 21 came after 10 years of a public debate on reasonable accommodations).

Tomorrow, what would it be? Will they tell us that protecting the French language is racist or discriminatory ??

Why can’t our federation (politicians, judges, media, etc.) understand that there are two main cultural approaches to secularism: Multiculturalism and secularism (laïcité), like many European countries (Québec’s version is much milder than the French one). Both have merits and both have potential flaws. What Bambi likes about the former is that it works… but only up to a certain point. Then, perhaps a lucid re-commitment to unity would be needed to avoid any excesses. What Bambi likes about the latter is the universalism underlying it (e.g., the French Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). Both provide protection to (religious or non-religious) minorities in different ways. Not better, not worse. Just different.

To come back to Bill 21, Bambi is not a lawyer to understand the legal justification behind this judge’s odd decision of today.

Bambi only understands that the same laws must be above all citizens, for fairness.

Plus, what kind of message will we give to newcomers to Québec? You can teach in this school with your religious symbol on, but not in the other one, perhaps in the same neighbourhood? Does that make any sense?

As Bambi wrote in an earlier post: “why would a Muslim friend from Nova Scotia quickly express respect of Québec’s choices when Bambi told him about this forthcoming bill (his veiled cousin was considering immigrating to Québec from Lebanon)”? Why not the media and this judge from Québec? Is he impartial, one cannot help not to wonder? Or is he convinced that this is wise conclusion?

This story is making Bambi think of a conversation she had yesterday with a wise loved one in Beirut who told her that he hopes he is wrong, but there seems to be an attempt to divide the Lebanese judicial system (everything else is already sadly divided, they both joked).

It is sad to see us going down this road in our Canada: More divisions in our society. Bravo to Québec for clearly saying: Non merci. There will be an appeal.

To conclude this post, contrary to Dr. Amir Attaran’s tweet on this matter: No, the nation of Québec is not “backwards”. How sad yet not surprising to see this clever lawyer/professor being so disrespectful of La Belle Province.  Once again, Bambi will repeat that he has the right to be impolite toward Québec or not liking it. As shown below, despite all his unkind remarks, Bambi has defended his right to freedom of speech.

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Are elections ahead? Regardless, bravo and thank you Mr. Trudeau for defending Québec. This being said, Dr. Attaran’s free (“Québec bashing”) speech must remain protected!

Bambi adores “Aballati Aballati“, a traditional song, famous in Sicily (Italy).

She just discovered Mr. Amine Hachem’s official performance of this song produced in Lebanon in 2018. So much fun to watch and listen to!

Mr. Hachem is an operatic tenor, in addition to being a classical & crossover artist. He is Lebanese-American.

Bambi would like to dedicate this song to all her friends of Italian origins. Enjoy :)!